1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a holder structure, and more particularly to a holder structure for retaining at least one lamp and associated wires within a backlight module.
2. Description of the Prior Art
At present, as Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) has greater advanced performances such as light weight, power consumption savings, lower blinks, lower-radiation and so on, it has been widely used to replace the conventional cathode-ray tube (CRT) display device. A common LCD may principally consist of a lamp (such as a Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp (CCFL)), a backlight module and a plurality of power wire assembly. In the backlight module, a positioning device is essential for positioning and retaining the lamp so as to avoid free movement of the lamp within the backlight module, which might pull apart the solder point between the lamp and the power wire assembly to result in improper connection therebetween.
Referring to FIG. 1, a holding device 10 for a conventional backlight module comprises a first fixture portion 110, a second fixture portion 122 and a connecting portion 130 for interconnecting the first and second fixture portions 110, 122. On one side edge of the first fixture portion 110, a protruding bar 112 is formed along a lengthwise direction, and on one side edge of the second fixture portion 122, a groove 126 is formed corresponding to said protruding bar 112. Because the first and second fixture portions 110, 122 are as two opposite upper cover and lower cover, the lamp 142 that is connected with a power wire assembly 144 through a solder point 146 can be positioned between the first and second fixture portions 110, 122. When the second fixture portion 122 is covered with the first fixture portion 110 by mating the protruding bar 112 with the groove 126, the lamp 142, the solder point 146 and the paired power wire assembly 144 can be accommodated and retained within a space defined between the first and second fixture portions 110, 122. Hence, even if a part of the power wire assembly 144 that extends outward through a neck portion 166 is pulled, the power wire assembly 144 will not move, arbitrarily. However, while the holding device 10 is pulled or vibrated by an external force, the mating between the protruding bar 112 and the groove 126 might become loose to open the first and second fixture portions 110, 122, and the lamp 142 and power wire 144 would fall off from the holding device 10. Only the mating (like a close fit) between the protruding bar 112 and the groove 126 is not enough to ensure firm close of the first and second fixture portions 110, 122. Constitutionally, it can't retain the lamp 142 and the power wire assembly 144 within the holding device 10, effectively.
As shown in FIG. 2, another conventional holding device 20 comprises a wire orienting portion 22, and a lamp orienting portion 24 which has an end integrally connected with the wire orienting portion 22 to constitute a orthographic structure. On the upper surface of the wire orienting portion 22, a plurality of wire channels 222, 242 are defined to extend through the wire orienting portion 22. The wire channels 222 are used to receive a plurality of low-voltage wires 220, the wire channels 242 are used to receive a plurality of high-voltage wires 240. Furthermore, in front of the lamp orienting portion 24, a plurality of lamp channels 244 are defined to extend backward to communicate with said wire channels 242 for accommodating a plurality of lamps 26 therein. Actually, each lamp 26 needs to be configured with a power wire module 210 (including, for example, the low-voltage power wire 220 and high-voltage power wire 240). The lamp 26 is electrically connected with said high-voltage power wire 240 via a solder point 28. In the prior art, a process of encasing the lamp 26 and associated wires 220, 240 into the holding device 20 includes two steps S1 and S2.
As shown in FIG. 2, in the step S1, firstly the high-voltage power wire 240 and the low-voltage power wire 220 are breadthwise encased into the wire orienting portion 22 of the holding device 20 through the wire channel 222, 224, separately. After perforating through a back wall of the wire orienting portion 22, the low-voltage wire 220 is bent downward vertically. The high-voltage wire 240 enters the wire channel 242 along a horizontal direction, and then is bent at a position where the wire channel 242 intersects with the lamp channel 244 to further extend downwards along a vertical direction to reach outside the lamp channel 244. In the step S2, the holding device 20 perforated with associated power wire 220, 240 has to carefully move downward on along the power wire 220, 240, as 90-degree rotation of the hold device 20 relative to the power wire 240, until the lamp 26 enters the holding device 20 (as shown in dotted line), wherein one end of the lamp 26 is received in the wire channel 242, a solder point between the lamp 26 and the high-voltage wire 240 is received in a position where the wire channel 242 intersects with the lamp channel 244. During the process of moving the holding device 20 along the power wires 220, 240 at 90-degree rotation for arriving at the lamp 26, if a moving force is not suitable or a moving direction is not correct, the lamp 26 can be very easy to be bent or the tender solder point 28 can be damaged. In the assemble process, once a lamp 26 is ruptured in the holding device 20 or the solder point 28 is damaged in the holding device 20, it's very difficult to take out lamp 26 or the solder point 28 from the holding device 20 for repair or rework. This would result in an uncontrolled soldering quality and an inferior manufacturing yield. Especially, if the holding device 20 can be assembled with a plurality of lamps and associated power wire modules in each process, the whole holding device 20 will become a waster once any one of the lamps 26 is ruptured or one of the solder points 28 is damaged. Understandingly, the conventional method for assembling the holding device 20 is time-consuming and laborious, and the inferior manufacturing yield and its design harmful to reassemble would result in a costly manufacture.
To resolve the drawbacks of said conventional holding device, it is necessary to develop a holder structure capable of simplifying the assembling process and accommodating the lamp and the power wires therein, effectively.